"War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal."

[understandinglife]

It is important to revisit these statements by Richard Perle in the context of what we now know from Michael Smith's reporting of the various leaked "Downing Street" documents.

It is also important to place Mr Perle's confession of the critical determinations of the Nuremberg Tribunal, and for that a quote is provided from an excellent essay that appeared a few days after Perle's arrogant admission that the US did not allow international law restrain the US and UK from launching a war of aggression.

First, the report of Mr Perle's statements. No evidence exists that I can find that Perle ever retracted these comments. Even if he did, it would now be obvious that such a retraction would be yet another neoconster lie told to cover the truth.

War critics astonished as US hawk admits invasion was illegal

Oliver Burkeman and Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 20, 2003
The Guardian

International lawyers and anti-war campaigners reacted with astonishment yesterday after the influential Pentagon hawk Richard Perle conceded that the invasion of Iraq had been illegal. In a startling break with the official White House and Downing Street lines, Mr Perle told an audience in London: "I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."

President George Bush has consistently argued that the war was legal either because of existing UN security council resolutions on Iraq - also the British government's publicly stated view - or as an act of self-defense permitted by international law.

But Mr Perle, a key member of the defense policy board, which advises the US defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, said that "international law ... would have required us to leave Saddam Hussein alone", and this would have been morally unacceptable.

<clip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1089158,00.html

June 23, 2005 latimes.com

The Real News in the Downing Street Memos

By Michael Smith, Michael Smith writes on defense issues for the Sunday Times of London.

<clip>

The six leaked documents I took away with me that night were to change completely my opinion of the decision to go to war and the honesty of Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bush.

They focused on the period leading up to the Crawford, Texas, summit between Blair and Bush in early April 2002, and were most striking for the way in which British officials warned the prime minister, with remarkable prescience, what a mess post-war Iraq would become. Even by the cynical standards of realpolitik, the decision to overrule this expert advice seemed to be criminal.

<clip>

"The real news (in the documents) is the shady April 2002 deal to go to war, the cynical use of the U.N. to provide an excuse, and the secret, illegal air war without the backing of Congress."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-smith23jun23,0,1838831.story

I agree with Mr Smith's assessment that the documents reveal premeditated deception of the citizens, and their elected representatives, of both the UK and USA, and premeditated determination to commence a war of aggression on Iraq. That war of aggression was fully underway when tens of tons of munitions began being showered on Iraq in the Summer of 2002.

Nuremberg provides the legal framework by which We The People .... of the world can and must bring justice to the victims of US, UK aggression on Iraq.

PERLE'S CONFESSION

By STEPHEN J. SNIEGOSKI

November 22, 2003

"As a consequence of the famous Nuremberg trial in 1946, a number of German military leaders were hanged for engaging in aggressive war. In his opening address for the United States at the Nuremberg Tribunal, Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson declared "that to plan, prepare, initiate or wage a war of aggression ... is a crime." Jackson identified several actions as aggression, and therefore crimes against peace, including invasion of the territory of another state and attack by armed forces on the territory of another state. It is noteworthy that Jackson added:

It is the plot and the act of aggression which we charge to be crimes. Our position is that whatever grievances a nation may have, however objectionable it finds the status quo, aggressive warfare is an illegal means for settling those grievances or for altering those conditions.

Jackson was, of course, an American. And Americans traditionally have looked upon Nuremberg as being sacrosanct. The International Law Commission of the United Nations adopted the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal as constituting basic principles of international law. Foremost among the crimes defined as punishable under international law are crimes against peace, which include "planning, preparation, initiation or waging a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements, or assurances."

But most Americans today know little about the Nuremberg Trial. ... Therefore, Americans can't understand why anyone would be upset over the United States attacking an evil country. They don't consider what would happen if all countries acted in a similar manner — that it would create a world of continual and ubiquitous war. Foreigners understand that; Americans are left in a fog.

http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/offsite_snieg_perle.htm

It is time we taught every American what an exceptional achievement in rule of law the Nuremberg Tribunal represents, and no better way to do that than to have a 'Reality TV' episode of "The Prosecution of the President and the Prime Minister for Their War of Aggression on Iraq."

Mr Perle has freely admitted the US broke the law.



Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - WE THE PEOPLE .... MUST FILE CHARGES, INDICT AND PROSECUTE BUSH AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS. IT'S THE LAW, STUPID.

[0rganism]

1. Oh wow. This is admission of torte.

Of course, Perle doesn't see it this way, but international treaties are THE LAW OF THE LAND once ratified by the senate. In other words, the bush administration broke the law, and Perle just admitted it up-front.

[corbett]

2. Keys To Impeachment

Thanks for this excellent post! Please share the following far and wide:

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050601/the_key_to_impeachment.php

[evermind]

3. Astonishing! Would he repeat it under oath, for Conyers? :) (n/t)

[historian]

4. impeachment? or business as usual?

One would think that after the memos and this confession, a movement would be afoot for impeachment then criminal charges a la nuremberg. However (sigh) notice that the main media outlets do not mention any of this and the average cretin still has no clue as to the criminality of these thugs in the white house. If rush limbaugh says it aint so then it aint so.

[eissa]

5. I'm not shocked at all

Laws and treaties (like the Geneva Convention) just get in the way of things for this administration. And since they are NEVER held accountable, even after the public learns that intelligence was fixed in order to implement this war, I'm sure Perle feels safe that he can finally say what we all know -- that this is an illegal war -- because he and this administration will continue to get away with it.

[berni_mccoy]

6. Where IS THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP??!!

Let's bring these CRIMINALS UP ON CHARGES!!! NOW!!!

NO MORE DELAY!!!

IMPEACH! INCARCERATE! IMPRISON!!

[bpilgrim]

10. Kerry calls for ROVE to resign!!!

what a tin ear :crazy:

peace

[madeline_con]

38. No more Delay!

Was that pun intentional? ;)

[understandinglife]

7. I've fax'd this to Congressman Conyers and others urging them to file

... file charges in both US and International Courts and press for prosecution. Why waste time between now and Jan 2007; Bush and the neoconsters are mega-war criminals and charges should be being filed against them in courts throughout the Nation and the world.


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - WE THE PEOPLE .... MUST FILE CHARGES, INDICT AND PROSECUTE BUSH AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS. IT'S THE LAW, STUPID.

[hiley]

8. UL this is the most excellent post !

would you mind if I sent this as well ?
or another version
hiley

[understandinglife]

9. Thank you, hiley. Please use it in any way that you find helpful in ...

.... our mutual efforts to bring these heathens to a court of law.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT IS THE LAW, EVERYONE.

[hiley]

13. understandinglife

that is right , justice !
thanks UL
Congressman John Boozman will receive this in his email and in the us mail.
Others as well but he and I have this ongoing dialog over Iraq and guess what I will win this debate with help from you.

Everyone needs to think about and act on this issues everyday of their lives no time for breaks and such.

[annabanana]

11. Lying to the public is an acceptable tactic for the neos..

Because the public is too stupid to know that it's ok to invade countries that don't threaten us if they have something we want.

[Synnical]

12. Excellent post

And compilation. Thanks. A kick and a Nomination.

:dem:

[understandinglife]

14. June 24, 2005: "Bush's pre-emptive war pre-empted Congress"

Bush's pre-emptive war pre-empted Congress

PAUL LOEB
GUEST COLUMNIST

June 24, 2005

It's bad enough that the Bush administration had so little international support for the Iraqi war that their "coalition of the willing" meant the United States, Britain and the equivalent of a child's imaginary friends. It's even worse that, as the British Downing Street memo confirms, administration officials had so little evidence of real threats that they knew from the start that they were going to have to manufacture excuses to go to war. What's more damning still is that they effectively began this war even before the congressional vote.

<clip>

Most Americans don't know these prewar attacks ever happened. There was little coverage at the time, and there's been little since. The bombings that destroyed Iraq's air defenses were under the radar for both the U.S. media and U.S. residents.

If coverage of the Downing Street memo continues to increase, I suspect the administration will try to dismiss it as mere diplomatic talk, just inside baseball. But they weren't just manipulating intelligence so they could attack no matter how Saddam responded. They weren't only bribing would-be allies into participation. They were fighting a war they'd planned long before. They just didn't bother to tell the American public.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/229775_loeb24.html

Paul Loeb of Seattle is the author of "The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear" (Basic Books), www.theimpossible.org

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT IS THE LAW, EVERYONE.

[mcg]

15. Yet they are unwilling to capture Bin Laden.

"I think in this case international law stood in the way of doing the right thing."
-- Perle

Compare this with what Goss said about getting Bin Laden

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/20/goss.bin.laden/

"We are making very good progress on it. But when you go to the very difficult question of dealing with sanctuaries in sovereign states, you're dealing with a problem of our sense of international obligation, fair play."

[understandinglife]

16. Superb!! Thank you!

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4173.htm


WE THE PEOPLE .... WILL NEVER FORGET

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT IS THE LAW, EVERYONE

[mcg]

27. For more on their contradictions, see this post....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3929181#3932962

Their contradictions are truly mind-boggling.

[The Doctor.]

17. Kick

:kick:



Hmmm... need a bigger Donkey.

[mike_c]

18. see the quote in my sig line....

eom

[Disturbed]

19. "Lying to the public is an acceptable tactic for the neos.."

Lying to Congress is a High Crime.

[understandinglife]

22. "The Bottom Line: Much of this you know. And that's what makes it tragic."

Yes, you're sig line is an important reminder that that is exactly how Perle has viewed the legal restraints on the neoconsters vision of a PNAC'd planet. Several have quoted Perle and you and others may find this recent essay of interest.

The Decadence Manifesto: Iraq (1)

March 17, 2005

by Bryan Shultz (epinons ID: pyfr)

The Bottom Line - Much of this you know. And that's what makes it tragic.

<clip>

If you have no compassion for the people of Iraq, or if you're the kind of person who believes that everything W does is a manifestation of God's will, then please read no further. There's nothing I can say that will change your mind, and I wish you the best of luck when the fallout of our government's ways descends upon you and your loved ones. And rest assured, my friend, retribution is on its way.

Richard Perle, one of Bush's war hawk advisors, stated at the beginning of the current conflict that "The greatest triumph of the Iraq war is the destruction of the evil of international law." What Perle meant, essentially, is that commencement of the Iraqi war signified that the U.S. would no longer adhere to the Geneva Conventions that armies are supposed to abide by, and that America would henceforth do whatever it damn well pleased, regardless of international opinion. We've gone from having a cowboy/lone ranger as our leader to BEING the cowboy. Yee-haw!

The people of Iraq, if you care to stop and listen to them, are a little bit confused as to why we're ripping their children apart AGAIN. After all, they haven't been able to follow the tide of world events over the last fifteen years or so, given the absence of anything resembling a free press. Saddam, like all good dictators, subordinated the media to his agenda, and made sure that the Iraqis were deprived of news, as well as everything else.

<clip>

This little game called the "War On Terror" is a facade, a bloody drama being carried out in the name of Americans by the businessmen who have taken control. They're making their bid for world domination, and the price we'll pay for not supporting it will be a rise in terrorist attacks and a further curtailment of our rights (which is what will happen anyway if we DO support it). They are using the American military to secure control of the planet's energy reserves (our tanks don't use windpower, you know), and pushing us toward a showdown with the Muslim world, as well as Russia and China. We may be the world's only "superpower", but Moscow and Beijing have the ability to pull us into the grave with them.

http://www.epinions.com/content_4288258180

And, Perle's words are being quoted in conjunction with reporting instances of exactly the kind of activity the law that he despises, forbids.

Journalists Tell of US Falluja Killings

June 23, 2005

by Adam Porter

<clip>

Jamail recounts: "Last November, another Falluja refugee from the Julan area, Abu Sabah, told me: 'They (US military) used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud. Then small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them.'

"He explained that pieces of these bombs exploded into large fires that burned peoples' skin even when water was dumped on their bodies, which is the effect of phosphorous weapons, as well as napalm."

The reports of the use of napalm in civilian areas are widespread, as are many other frightening allegations. The attacks on the hospitals and medical facilities in Falluja are also in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions.

But as Richard Perle, a senior adviser to US President George Bush said at the start of the Iraq war: "The greatest triumph of the Iraq war is the destruction of the evil of international law."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0317-02.htm

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6890A8DA-AF79-45AD-BB4F-42C060978A07.htm

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT'S THE LAW, EVERYONE.

[understandinglife]

57. Woolsey: “I don’t think it matters."

Fixing To Fix “Fixed”

June 24, 2005

By Ray McGovern

The Downing Street papers are proving a formidable challenge to the White House PR machine as it desperately tries—in often-ludicrous ways—to slow down a train that has already left the station. And interest continues to build. The leaked British documents are now on the top-ten list of Google queries.

<clip>

The usual suspects are being trotted out, and it came as no surprise that fleet-of-foot former CIA director and neo-conservative darling James Woolsey was put in at the top of the line-up. Some will recall that just five days after 9/11 Woolsey appeared on Nightline to advocate striking Iraq for sponsoring terrorism.

Ted Koppel: “Nobody right now is suggesting that Iraq had anything to do with this (9/11). In fact, quite the contrary.”

James Woolsey: “I don’t think it matters. I don’t think it matters.”

Since then, Woolsey’s intelligence reporting on Iraq has been, well, spotty. As an intelligence professional I have been musing over what kind of “source description” CIA reports officers assign him at this point. It would have to read something like:

After 9/11, source was assigned by then-chair of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle to midwife reports like the since-disproved allegations of a meeting between 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta and an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague and the canard about Iraqi mobile laboratories for producing biological weapons. Source’s strong ideological/political views may affect his objectivity."

Link:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/511

No wonder Perle and Woolsey trust each other. I think they should share the same prison cell, don't you.

"... we sent our young people into harm's way without leveling with the American people." - Congresswoman Pelosi before Congress, 16 June 2005

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - One question, my fellow Americans, "Why is Bush not already in jail?"

[PATRICK]

20. Judgment at Nuremberg film

was a lost opportunity as it chose to deal with loftier thoughtfulness behind the trial of the Nazi judiciary. The discomfort with the realpolitik rushing to bring a curtain down on accountability and American ignorance was a strong backdrop. It ends with a preachy admonition that maybe the audiences of the victor country could warm to but it fell far short in educating the people.

In fact I can't think of any serious education on Nuremberg that didn't start backing uneasily away. Some series on the Holocaust or the inner circles of the Reich were good historical teachers but poor in relating it to our own condition, us the free world against them, the old decadent Europe gone mad.

Dialogging with evil even as a defeated adversary is as perilous as an exorcism. The murk, the infection, and the need to escape from such ironically, puts us right back in our pre-war weakness that enabled fascism in the first place.

Now we have judges on SCOTUS even who are closer and more enthusiastic to the ideological evils that Nazism spawned than the convicted war criminals. All they lack is more opportunity to cause harm. Does anyone realize that? No. Unthinkable. And Bush is not protecting soldiers. That is another lie. He is protecting his circle. They were the ones who hung from the Nuremberg gallows.

[dzika]

21. Great post!

The media would love the ratings.

[rodeodance]

23. whow--Peal actually said this? !!!!

"The greatest triumph of the Iraq war is the destruction of the evil of international law." Richard Perle

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Duh?

What else can be said?

[B Calm]

25. The US is ready for a new 'Reality TV' episode!

[understandinglife]

31. Gardiner: "The United States needs a robust public diplomacy effort"

Excerpts from: Bush Administration Psychological Warfare Against the US?

An Interview with (Ret.) Colonel Sam Gardiner

by Kevin Zeese
www.dissidentvoice.org
June 23, 2005

Sam Gardiner has taught strategy and military operations at the National War College, Air War College and Naval War College. He was recently a visiting scholar at the Swedish Defense College. During Gulf II, he was a regular on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer as well as on BBC radio and television, and National Public Radio. He authored “The Enemy is Us” an article describing how the Bush Administration used disinformation and psychological warfare -- weapons usually used against the “enemy” -- against the American public in order to support the war in Iraq. He has done an extensive analysis of the media coverage before the war, during the war, and during the occupation as well as of the statements of Administration officials. His conclusions are startling and of great concern. His findings can be found in a report entitled “Truth from These Podia.”

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/June05/Zeese0623.htm

The United States needs a robust public diplomacy effort ... I believe we cannot allow government officials to insert non-truths into media that will be seen by Americans. We can’t allow officials to damage democracy in the name of extending democracy.

<clip>

"I have been able to uncover some of the manipulation that went on before and during the war, but I think I have only scratched the surface. Some is still classified or buried. For example, who within the US Government told the press that the French gave Saddam Hussein a passport so he could sneak out of Iraq? Who told the press Saddam Hussein was hiding in the Russian embassy?"

<clip>

"The other irony is that if truth had been valued inside the Administration, we probably would not have gone to war. In very early 2003 I had done an extensive analysis of the likely humanitarian consequences of an invasion of Iraq. I was able to get quite a few mid-level people to review my briefing. I even briefed my results to the National Security Council staff. The bottom line of my presentation was that the United States was not ready to deal with what was coming. That was clearly not a piece of information anyone wanted.

My efforts and those of others are described in a January 2004 article in the Atlantic Monthly by Jim Fallows, “Blind into Baghdad.”"

Blind Into Baghdad

The U.S. occupation of Iraq is a debacle not because the government did no planning but because a vast amount of expert planning was willfully ignored by the people in charge. The inside story of a historic failure

by James Fallows
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200401/fallows

We should invite Sam Gardiner to be the Director/Producer of our "Reality TV: Real-time Prosecution of a mass murderer President and Prime Minister."


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT'S THE LAW, MY FELLOW AMERICANS.

[flyarm]

26. thank you ..UL!! YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!

sent out to all my internet groups!!..thank you , thank you!!!

[flyarm]

28. i remember posting this over and over on

aol mesage boards, and the neo turds did a richard clark on him...i believe pearle said this right after he was let go by this administration over money conflicts..

[Raiden]

29. Recommended

This is BIG news!!

[flyarm]

30. ok richard pearle resigned march 28 2003,,

Richard Pearle resigns
The World Today Archive - Friday, 28 March , 2003 12:35:48
Reporter: John Shovelan

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2003/s819071.htm

snip:

: Well, one of the principal architects of the Bush administration's policy in Iraq has been forced to resign as chairman of a pentagon advisory board.

Richard Pearle tendered his resignation just a few hours ago, siting the controversy over conflict of interest allegations arising out of his 1.5 million-dollar role as an adviser to a now bankrupt communications company.

From Washington, our North America Correspondent John Shovelan reports.

JOHN SHOVELAN: Mr Pearle is connected and interviews with the Hawk are expensive, about $1,500 these days. In the Presidential election campaign he was advisor to George W. Bush on foreign policy. He could have been working in the White House but chose not to.

He is a friend of the Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Deputy Paul Wolfowitz. He belongs to an exclusive group of hawks and argues war with Iraq is the moral course. Nicknamed the 'prince of darkness' by his detractors it's his own morality that's being questioned now.

Mr Pearle is chairman of the Pentagon’s Defence Policy Review Board, an advisory group to the Secretary, Mr Rumsfeld. He was also being paid about $1.5 million by the company Global Crossing.

The New York Times reported last week that Mr Pearle was hired by the bankrupt communications company to help overcome Pentagon resistance to the idea of the company being sold off to a Hong Kong based billionaire tycoon. But he would only get the full fee if the pentagon dropped its opposition to the plan.

Mr Pearle's influential position on the Defence Policy Board falls under the government’s ethics rules, which forbid him from earning financial benefit as a result of his government position.

[understandinglife]

32. "America's founders knew all too well how war appeals to the vanity of ...

.... of rulers and their thirst for glory. That's why they took care to deny presidents the kingly privilege of making war at their own discretion."

<clip>

The War President

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: June 24, 2005

<clip>

But after 9/11 President Bush, with obvious relish, declared himself a "war president." And he kept the nation focused on martial matters by morphing the pursuit of Al Qaeda into a war against Saddam Hussein.

In November 2002, Helen Thomas, the veteran White House correspondent, told an audience, "I have never covered a president who actually wanted to go to war" - but she made it clear that Mr. Bush was the exception. And she was right.

We need to deprive these people of their ability to mislead and intimidate. And the best way to do that is to make it clear that the people who led us to war on false pretenses have no credibility, and no right to lecture the rest of us about patriotism.

The good news is that the public seems ready to hear that message ....

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/24/opinion/24krugman.html?hp

Mr. Krugman should definitely be one of the script writers for our "Reality TV: War Criminal President On Trial" series.

Question is, where to hold the trials. I suggest Jerusalem.


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT'S THE LAW, MY FELLOW AMERICANS

[EFerrari]

33. UL, we can't let the latest bate from Rove take us off task.

Because those comments were bait, to lure us away from the gathering catastrophe Iraq has become for the Cabal. A fire started over there, a distraction.



:kick:

[hiley]

41. Sfexpat2000

that is exactly what it is too "bait" !
Video's and more Torture evidence, children screaming and crying from being raped and tortured.


Bait and switch that is what "They" do everytime and Media just loves it.

There will be multiple distractions.

[Ani Yun Wiya]

36. "I suggest Jerusalem."....

As long as Sharon joins * and his poodle in the dock.

[Nothing Without Hope]

34. Another great one, UL. Thank you.

Will recommend if there is still time.

He really is a piece of work, isn't he? He is quite comfortable saying that international law is immoral and so he will break it. By his reasoning, murder would be fine if the murderer thought it was a good idea. And indeed, that is only part of what did happen.

[Stand and Fight]

35. Bravo!

The truth rings so clearly. Another chink in their armour.

[madeline_con]

37. So, how long do you think...

until Perle is sent to a 'farm' to recover from his 'breakdown'?

:freak:

[Time for change]

39. Thank you for your continuing efforts

to rid the world of this tyrannical government.

[understandinglife]

40. 24 June 2005: World Tribunal on Iraq in Istanbul is well underway.

Just in case anyone thinks that the world is asleep regarding the vast destruction of life, culture, and sovereignty of Iraq that are the consequences of Bush's illegal war and occupation, check the titles of the talks and the closing session topic.

The Tribunal will consist of three days of hearings investigating various issues related to the war on Iraq, such as the legality of the war, the role of the United Nations, war crimes and the role of the media, as well as the destruction of the cultural sites and the environment. The session in Istanbul is the culminating session of commissions of inquiry and hearings held around the world over the past two years. They have compiled a definitive historical record of evidence about the invasion and the occupation.

DAY ONE, 24 JUNE 2005

09:00 – 09:30 Arundhati Roy, Opening Speech of the Spokesperson of the Jury of Conscience and the Introduction of the Jury

09:30 – 09:50 Richard Falk, Opening Speech on behalf of the Panel of Advocates: Macro approach to the system; the "moral" responsibility underlying the constitution of the UN; the limits to the exercise of power for the states; violation of international law.

First Session / The Role of International Law and Institutions (Moderator: T. Tarhanlý)

09:50 – 10:00 Turgut Tarhanlý: The Framework of the Session
10:00 – 10:20 Phil Shiner: The Illegality of preventive attack and unilateral use of force; the illegality of use of force in inter-state relations; the illegality of the occupation.
10:20 – 10:40 Hans von Sponeck: The conduct of the UN before and after the 2003 invasion
10:40 – 11:00 Larry Everest: The history of US and UK Interventions in Iraq
11:00 – 11:20 Questions from the Jury

11:20 – 11:40 Coffee Break

11:40 – 12:00 Jim Harding: Neo-Colonization Trends
12:00 – 12:20 Amy Bartholomew: Empire's Law and Human Rights as Swords of Empire
12:20 – 12:40 Issa Shivji: Implications of the Decrease in Confidence in International Institutions and International Law
12:40 – 13:00 Tony Alessandrini: The Violation of the Will of Global Anti-War Movement as a Crime Against Peace
13:00 – 13:20 Questions from the Jury

13:20 – 14:30 Lunch

Second Session / The Responsibility of Governments (Moderator: Ahmet Ýnsel)

14:30 – 14:50 Baskýn Oran: U.S. Attack on Iraq and the Policy of the Turkish Government
14:50 – 15:10 Khaled Fahmy: The Responsibility of Arab Governments in the Iraq War
15:10 – 15:30 Guglielmo Carchedi: The Responsibility of European Governments
15:30 – 15:50 Walden Bello: The Responsibility of the Coalition of the Willing and Their Supporters
15:50 – 16:10 Questions from the Jury

16:10 – 16:30 Coffee Break

Third Session / The Accountability of the Media (Moderator: Ömer Madra)

16:30 – 16:50 Saul Landau: Economic-Political Connections of Media
16:50 – 17:10 David Miller: Media Wrongs in the War and Occupation
17:10 – 17:30 Witness - Mete Çubukçu: Moral Responsibility of War Journalism
17:30 – 17:50 Jayan Nayar: Media Wrongs against Truth and Humanity
17:50 – 18:10 Ömer Madra: The Quest for an Alternative Media
18:10 – 18:30 Questions from the Jury

SECOND DAY, 25 JUNE 2005

09:00 – 09:10 Summary of the Previous Day

Fourth Session / The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (Moderator: Haifa Zangana)

09:10 – 09:20 Haifa Zangana: The Framework of the Session
09:20 – 09:40 Witness - Dahr Jamail: Testimony on War Crimes and the Recent Situation in Iraq
09:40 – 10:00 Akira Maeda / Sayo Saruta / Koichi Inamori: The Excessive Use of Weapons and Banned Weapons
10:00 – 10:20 Thomas Fasy: The Health Effects of DU Weapons in Iraq
10:20 – 10:40 Witness - Denis Halliday: The Conduct of the UN
10:40 – 11:00 Questions from the Jury

11:00 – 11:20 Coffee Break

11:20 – 11:40 Hana Ibrahim: Gender Based Violence (security and gender based violence)
11:40 – 12:00 Eman Khammas: Ruin of Daily Life (security and education system)
12:00 – 12:20 Witness - Tim Goodrich: The Conduct of the US Army
12:20 – 12:40 Amal Sawadi: Detentions and Prison Conditions
12:40 – 13:00 Witness - Fadhil Al Bedrani: Collective Punishment
13:00 – 13:20 Questions from the Jury

13:20 – 14:30 Lunch

Fourth Session / Cont. ... (Moderator: Joel Kovel)

14:30 – 14:50 Joel Kovel: Effects of the War on the Infrastructure
14:50 – 15:10 Herbert Docena: Economic Colonization
15:10 – 15:30 Mohammed Al Rahoo: Iraqi Law Under Occupation
15:30 – 15:50 Abdul Ilah Al Bayaty: The Transfer of Power in Iraq
15:50 – 16:10 Niloufer Bhagwat: The Privatization of War
16:10 – 16:30 Questions from the Jury

16:30 – 16:50 Coffee Break

16:50 – 17:10 Huda Al Nuaimi: The Occupation as Prison
17:10 – 17:30 Barbara Olshansky: Covert Practices in the U.S. War on Terror and the Implications for International Law: The Guantanamo Example
17:30 – 17:50 Witness - Mark Manning / Rana M. Mustafa: Testimony on Falluja
17:50 – 18:10 Abdul Wahab Al Obeidi: Human Rights Violations and the Disappeared in Iraq
18:10 – 18:30 Johan Galtung: Human Rights and the U.S./U.K. Illegal Attack on Iraq

18:30 – 18:50 Questions from the Jury

THIRD DAY, 26 JUNE 2005

09:00 – 09:10 Summary of the Previous Day

Fifith Session / Cultural Heritage, Environment and World Resources (Moderator: Hilal Elver)

09:10 – 09:20 Hilal Elver: The Framework of the Session
09:20 – 09:40 Gül Pulhan: The Destruction of Cultural Heritage: A Report from the Istanbul Initiative
09:40 – 10:00 Witness - Amal Al Khedairy: Testimony on the Destruction of Cultural Heritage
10:00 – 10:20 Joel Kovel: The Ecological Implications of the War
10:20 – 10:40 Witness - Souad Naji Al-Azzawi: Tes. on Radioactive Contamination in Iraq
10:40 – 11:00 Questions from the Jury

11:00 – 11:20 Coffee Break

]b\Sixth Session / Global Security Environment and Future Alternatives (Moderator: Ayþe Gül Altýnay)

11:20 – 11:40 Ayþe Gül Altýnay: Militarism and the Culture of Violence
11:40 – 12:00 Nadje Al-Ali: Gender and War: The Plight of Iraqi Women
12:00 – 12:20 Liz Fekete: Creating Racism and Intolerance
12:20 – 12:40 Samir Amin: The Economy of Militarization
12:40 – 13:00 Ahmad Mohamed Al-Jaradat: Relationship between Iraq, Palestine and Israel.
13:00 – 13:20 Questions from the Jury

13:20 – 14:30 Lunch

Sixth Session / Continues

14:30 – 14:50 Wamidh Nadhmi: Polarization and the Narrowing Scope of Political Alternatives
14:50 – 15:10 John Ross: Collateral Damage: The Mexican Example
15:10 – 15:30 Christine Chinkin: Human Security in Iraq
15:30 – 15:50 Ken Coates: The Future of the Peace Movement
15:50 – 16:10 Corrine Kumar: Towards a New Political Imaginary
16:10 – 16:30 Biju Matthew: Alternatives for an Alternative Future
16:30 – 17:00 WTI Ýstanbul Coordination: The WTI as an Alternative: An Experimental Assertion
17:00 – 17:20 Questions from the Jury

17:20 – 17:40 Coffee Break

17:40 – 18:00 Richard Falk - Closing Speech on Behalf of the Panel of Advocates
18:00 – 18:20 Arundhati Roy - Closing Speech on Behalf of the Jury of Conscience
18:20 – 18:30 The Closing of the World Tribunal on Iraq, Istanbul.

27 JUNE 2005
11.00 Press conference announcing the decision of the Jury of Conscience at Hotel Armada

http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=1


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - IT'S THE LAW, MY FELLOW AMERICANS

[hiley]

42. SPECIAL FREE SPEECH TV PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCEMENT

Free Speech TV and Deep Dish TV present
The Final Session of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) - Istanbul,
Turkey
June 24-27, 2005 (broadcast times listed below)


World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI)
-----------------------------
The final session of the WTI in Istanbul is the culmination of two
years
of rigorous investigation documenting violations of international law
and human rights by the United States and its allies leading up to and
during the invasion of Iraq and in the continuing occupation. Previous
sessions of the WTI have been held in Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen,
Rome, Genoa, Seoul, Osaka, Hiroshima, Mexico City, Mumbai and New York.
They have compiled a definitive historical record of evidence on the
illegality of the invasion and occupation.

(for information on the WTI, visit http://www.worldtribunal.org)


Final Session of the WTI
-------------------------
The Istanbul session of the WTI will summarize and present further
testimony on the illegality and criminal violations in the U.S.
pretexts
for and conduct of this war.

Expert opinion, witness testimony, video and image evidence will
address:

- The torture of prisoners
- The unlawful imprisonment of Iraqi civilians without charges or
legal defense;
- The use and health risks of depleted uranium weapons;
- The effects of the war on Iraq's infrastructure, including U.S.
mandated privatization and sale of Iraq's industries.
- The destruction of Iraqi cultural institutions and the liability
of
the invaders in international law for failing to protect these
treasures of humanity.


Historical Broadcasts
----------------------
Four hour-long programs from the final WTI session will broadcast on
Free Speech TV via a satellite uplink provided by longtime partner Deep
Dish TV. Don't miss this unique programming.

Program One:
Friday June 24, 8 PM - 9 PM (ET)
Saturday June 25, Midnight - 1 AM (ET)

Program Two:
Saturday June 25, 8 PM - 9 PM (ET)
Sunday June 26, Midnight - 1 AM (ET)

Program Three:
Sunday June 26, 10 PM - 11 PM (ET)
Monday June 27, Midnight - 1 AM (ET)

Program Four:
Monday June 27, 8 PM - 9 PM (ET)
Tuesday June 28, 2 AM - 3 AM (ET)


** Programs will also stream on the Internet @
http://www.worldtribunal.org and http://www.deepdishtv.org


"The World Tribunal on Iraq is collecting a definitive body of evidence
on the illegality of the invasion and occupation that will be
indispensable to the global anti-war movement, to conscientious
objectors, and to students of history for years to come. Americans who
oppose the war have a duty to support and participate in this crucial
international effort to stand up to U.S. government lawlessness and
impunity."

-- Naomi Klein



== FREE SPEECH TV // www.freespeech.org
==
Using television to cultivate an informed and active citizenry in order
to advance progressive social change.

24/7 on DISH Network Channel 9415
Part-time on over 120 Public Access Cable Channels nationwide
Online at www.freespeech.org

I have been watching the "series"
anything from deepdish is excellent.
hiley

[hiley]

43. World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI) streaming online if you don't have

FSTV...

Programs will also stream on the Internet @
http://www.worldtribunal.org and http://www.deepdishtv.org

[understandinglife]

44. Very helpful. Thank you for posting these links, hiley!

Emad Hajjaj, Al-Ghad Newspaper, Amman, Jordan


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - WE THE PEOPLE .... MUST FILE CHARGES, INDICT AND PROSECUTE BUSH AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS. IT'S THE LAW, MY FELLOW AMERICANS

[understandinglife]

45. Dahr Jamail to testify at the Tribunal; being inteviewed by 'many outlets'

June 23, 2005
Censorship

At long last, the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq is upon us. As a witness providing testimony, like the other witnesses I’m being interviewed by many outlets. Today, one of them was by reporters for one of the larger newspapers in Turkey, the Yeni Safak Newspaper.

<clip>

The newspaper has been translating various articles of mine into Turkish and running them, particularly those concerning the most recent Fallujah massacre. The report who was interviewing me today told me that the former American consulate here, Eric Edelman, asked the Prime Minister of Turkey to pressure his paper to not run so many of my stories.

<clip>

Turns out Edelman also asked that articles by Robert Fisk and Naomi Klein not be run so often in Yeni Safak either.

He smiled at me while he watched the wheels turning in my head before I smiled back and said, “That makes me very happy, it means I’m doing my job as a journalist.”

More at the link:
http://dahrjamailiraq.com/weblog/archives/dispatches/000256.php#more

Monday the Tribunal's Jury announces their conclusions. Sometime next week, the ACLU will release more torture documentation.

The ony question each American should now be asking - "Why is Bush not yet in jail."





Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - WE THE PEOPLE .... MUST FILE CHARGES, INDICT AND PROSECUTE BUSH AND ALL THE OTHER NEOCONSTER WAR CRIMINALS. IT'S THE LAW, MY FELLOW AMERICANS.

[hiley]

54. Dahr Jamail reports on the struggling health care

Iraqi Hospitals Ailing Under Occupation
http://www.dahrjamailiraq.com/reports/HealthcareUnderOccupationDahrJamail.pdf
Link above is a pdf
Or visit:

www.dahrjamailiraq.com and click on the 'reports' section.

Dahr Jamail reports on the struggling health care situation in
Iraq.
The report surveys 13 Iraqi Hospitals, examines the actions taken
by
US military against hospitals and care workers that constitute war
crimes as defined by the Geneva conventions, discusses and
documents
cases of US medical personnel complicit in torture through failures
to document the visible signs of torture on their patients, and
much
more.

[understandinglife]

46. Dupe.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

51. "Privatization is a nice word, but it means the economics of colonialism."

It is highly likely that the excerpts below, from Hassan Juma’a Awad, Chief of the Executive Bureau, General Union of Oil Workers, Iraq, are well known to the attendees of the World Tribunal. It is quite unfortunate that they are not well known to our fellow Americans, especially given the fact that the events described have all happened in the past week.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=8139

June 23, 2005

<clip>

The following day Hassan addresses a lunch meeting at the Communications Workers of America. “Many people are in the dark and don’t know the real intentions of the occupation, but we the indigenous have known since the first day,” he says. “Oil is the main reason for the invasion. This became clear when the Occupation authority tried to privatize the oil sector in Iraq. It covered this practice with various disguises so many Iraqis will buy it.” The crowd seems transfixed. Some chew their food staring straight at the speaker. He tilts his head to the side and rests both fists on the podium waiting for his interpreter to hurry up and finish.

“Privatization is a nice word, but it means the economics of colonialism. The transfer of public national wealth to private foreign ownership...As soon as they came in with tanks from Kuwait they began defending the oil fields. The Ministry of Oil is the only department where there has been no looting. Do you all know this? I don’t think so because the mainstream media is molding your opinion…We have to fight and struggle to expel the occupiers from our land. We need your support in this goal.” Enthusiastic applause bursts from the crowd but Hassan does not smile as he sits down.

<clip>

Inside the small white press room of the Capitol Representative Farr makes his opening statements. A few staffers enter the room, followed by Democratic congressman Dennis Kucinich. More than half of the congressmen who co-sponsored the leaders’ visit failed to make it to the scheduled June 15th briefing.

After introductions the moderator asks the Iraqis who wants to speak first. Without waiting for a response from his colleagues Hassan makes his way to the podium. “President Bush wants to implant democracy in Iraq," he begins, "but the democracy we have seen so far is unjust. We cannot even walk behind an American car. The Iraqi people are not terrorists...Please help us to get rid of the occupation, it must end as soon as possible.” Sam Farr leaves half way through the briefing. Two of the Iraqis exchange grim smiles and one sighs heavily.

<clip>

Yet despite this feeling of isolation Hassan sees the occupation in a process of defeat. "I see victory very close." He says straightening up as he speaks. "I visually see the American failures in Iraq every single day. I see a huge number of Iraqis who are willing to put their lives on the line to end the occupation. And I see that it will eventually happen because we are all united against the occupation. That is a collective call for all people regardless of their political position, religion or affiliation."

Any ambiguity about just whom the 'insurgency' is should now be dispelled.

I suspect, except for those Americans still entranced by the neoconsters psy-ops, that no one is confused about Bush and the neoconsters lust for world domination and the fuel required to keep the tanks rolling, the aircraft carriers sailing and the B1s flying.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - The only question, my fellow Americans, that you need to answer is: "When are you going to put Bush and the neoconsters in jail?"

[understandinglife]

53. "A resolution opposing the occupation is expected to be presented at ...

... the upcoming AFL-CIO convention."

Iraqi labor leaders welcomed across U.S.

June 23, 2005

by Susan Webb

Six Iraqi union leaders touring the U.S. this week called for an end to the U.S. occupation and expressed hope that American workers would support their efforts to protect Iraqi workers’ rights and defeat privatization. U.S. Labor Against the War sponsored the 17-day, 25-city tour by the representatives of three major labor organizations in Iraq.



Hassan Juma’a Awad, president of Iraq’s General Union of Oil Employees, at a June 16 meeting at Los Angeles Valley College hosted by AFT Local 1521.

The delegation met with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney June 14.

<clip>

The IFTU’s Rashed said the U.S. occupation has brought “the destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure, Iraqi institutions, civil service and the whole fabric of society.”

“The Iraqi people have all the resources, qualities, education, expertise to rebuild Iraq,” he said. “We will not accept the hegemony of a foreign power.”

<clip>

More at the link:
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/7267/1/275

Let us all ask the AFL-CIO to contribute to the effort to indict and prosecute Bush and the neoconsters.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - It's the Law, my fellow Americans

[hiley]

55. Privatization is evil.

Lookout | posted April 10, 2003 (April 28, 2003 issue)
Privatization in Disguise
Naomi Klein


On April 6, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz spelled it out: There will be no role for the United Nations in setting up an interim government in Iraq. The US-run regime will last at least six months, "probably...longer than that."

And by the time the Iraqi people have a say in choosing a government, the key economic decisions about their country's future will have been made by their occupiers. "There has got to be an effective administration from day one," Wolfowitz said. "People need water and food and medicine, and the sewers have to work, the electricity has to work. And that's a coalition responsibility."

The process of getting all this infrastructure to work is usually called "reconstruction." But American plans for Iraq's future economy go well beyond that. Rather, the country is being treated as a blank slate on which the most ideological Washington neoliberals can design their dream economy: fully privatized, foreign-owned and open for business

snip---
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030428&s=klein

Baghdad Year Zero

"Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia"

By Naomi Klein

Harper's Magazine, September 2004 -- It was only after I had been in Baghdad for a month that I found what I was looking for. I had traveled to Iraq a year after the war began, at the height of what should have been a construction boom, but after weeks of searching I had not seen a single piece of heavy machinery apart from tanks and humvees. Then I saw it: a construction crane. It was big and yellow and impressive, and when I caught a glimpse of it around a corner in a busy shopping district I thought that I was finally about to witness some of the reconstruction I had heard so much about. But as I got closer I noticed that the crane was not actually rebuilding anything - not one of the bombed-out government buildings that still lay in rubble all over the city, nor one of the many power lines that remained in twisted heaps even as the heat of summer was starting to bear down. No, the crane was hoisting a giant billboard to the top of a three-story building. SUNBULA: HONEY 100% NATURAL, made in Saudi Arabia.

Seeing the sign, I couldn't help but think about something Senator John McCain had said back in October. Iraq, he said, is "a huge pot of honey that's attracting a lot of flies." The flies McCain was referring to were the Halliburtons and Bechtels, as well as the venture capitalists who flocked to Iraq in the path cleared by Bradley Fighting Vehicles and laser-guided bombs. The honey that drew them was not just no-bid contracts and Iraq's famed oil wealth but the myriad investment opportunities offered by a country that had just been cracked wide open after decades of being sealed off, first by the nationalist economic policies of Saddam Hussein, then by asphyxiating United Nations sanctions.

Looking at the honey billboard, I was also reminded of the most common explanation for what has gone wrong in Iraq, a complaint echoed by everyone from John Kerry to Pat Buchanan: Iraq is mired in blood and deprivation because George W. Bush didn't have "a postwar plan." The only problem with this theory is that it isn't true. The Bush Administration did have a plan for what it would do after the war; put simply, it was to lay out as much honey as possible, then sit back and wait for the flies.

The honey theory of Iraqi reconstruction stems from the most cherished belief of the war's ideological architects: that greed is good. Not good just for them and their friends but good for humanity, and certainly good for Iraqis.
snip---
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6930.htm

[understandinglife]

52. "'Tribunal' accuses US, Britain of war crimes in Iraq"

'Tribunal' accuses US, Britain of warcrimes in Iraq

Fri Jun 24, 2005 6:03 PM BST

By Ayla Jean Yackley

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - International anti-war advocates accused the United States and Britain on Friday of committing war crimes in the invasion and occupation of Iraq in a symbolic "tribunal" in Turkey's largest city.

Former U.N. officials, legal experts and human rights activists said they convened the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI), to examine whether the 2003 invasion was an "illegal aggressive war". It has no binding authority and no officials were present to defend the U.S.-led war. A "verdict" is due on Monday.

<clip>

"The war and occupation challenges us to face the threat to international law by the actions of the U.S. and UK," said British international human rights lawyer Phil Shiner.

"The International Criminal Court (should) fulfil its functions to make those responsible for these war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable through principles of individual criminal liability," he said.

More at the link:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-06-24T170255Z_01_KNE461345_RTRUKOC_0_IRAQ-TURKEY-TRIBUNAL.xml

WTI: US caused more deaths in Iraq than Saddam

World Tribunal on Iraq says all government officials, corporate CEOs who participated in Iraq war should be tried as war criminals.

<clip>

"With two wars and 13 years of criminal sanctions, the United States have been responsible for more deaths in Iraq than Saddam Hussein," Larry Everest, a journalist, told hundreds of anti-war activists gathered in Istanbul.

Founded in 2003, the WTI is modelled on the 1960s Russell Tribunal, created by the British philosopher Bertrand Russell to denounce the war in Vietnam. It has held about 20 sessions so far in different locations around the world.

<clip>

Some 200 non-governmental organisations - including the environmentalist group Greenpeace, the anti-globalization ATTAC and Vietnam Veterans Against the War - as well as a number of prominent intellectuals such as US linguist Noam Chomsky and Egyptian sociologist Samir Amin are involved in the WTI.

Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=13866

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - It's the Law, my fellow Americans

[hiley]

56. US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan - UN

US acknowledges torture at Guantanamo; in Iraq, Afghanistan - UN

By AFX News

06/24/05, GENEVA (AFP) - Washington has for the first time acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said.

The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.

"They are no longer trying to duck this, and have respected their obligation to inform the UN," the Committee member told AFP.

"They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark."

UN sources said it was the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities.

The Committee, which monitors respect for the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is gathering information from the US ahead of hearings in May 2006.
snip----

The document from Washington will not be formally made public until the hearings.

"They haven't avoided anything in their answers, whether concerning prisoners in Iraq, in Afghanistan or Guantanamo, and other accusations of mistreatment and of torture," the Committee member said.

"They said it was a question of isolated cases, that there was nothing systematic and that the guilty were in the process of being punished."

The US report said that those involved were low-ranking members of the military and that their acts were not approved by their superiors, the member added.
snip---

Washington's report to the Committee reaffirms the US position that the Guantanamo detainees are classed as "enemy combatants," and therefore do not benefit from the POW status set out in the Geneva Conventions, the Committee member said.

Four UN human rights experts on Thursday slammed the United States for stalling on a request to allow visits to terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, and said they planned to carry out an indirect probe of conditions there.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9266.htm

[hiley]

58. in Crawford, in the Pentagon, in the Oval Office, at 10 Downing Street

Child Abuse

By Chris Floyd

06/24/05 " Moscow Times" - - When the public liars sat down together -- in Crawford, in the Pentagon, in the Oval Office, at 10 Downing Street -- and very deliberately, very guilefully and very knowingly devised their act of mass murder in Iraq, it is unlikely they gave any thought to the most vulnerable targets of their war crime: the children. So in considering this aspect of the bloodbath, we should give the liars the benefit of the doubt. Let's not make them more monstrous than they are. Let's stick to the facts.

Let us say -- as the incontrovertible facts compel us to say -- that they were willing to kill tens of thousands of innocent people in an action they knew to be illegal, reckless, ill-planned and unsupported by evidence; that they knew their public statements about the plans for war were lies; that they started the war with a vicious bombing campaign months before obtaining even a fig leaf of approval from their respective legislatures, a clear and treasonous violation of their own national laws; that long before their blitzkrieg rolled across the border, they were already divvying up the loot of conquest: the oil rights, the "privatizations," the crony contracts.
In short, let us say that, yes, they are killers, liars, thieves and incompetent fools. But let's not imagine that as they settled their safe and cosseted backsides into the fine upholstery of their elegantly appointed war rooms, they gleefully regaled each other with visions of the exquisite tortures they would soon inflict upon the children of Iraq.

snip---

Of course it wasn't like that. Such suppositions do these honored national leaders a grave injustice. No doubt their discourse was elevated, focused on lofty matters of state and strategy, on the practicalities of logistics and presentation. If anyone there spoke of the "human factor" -- the actual reality of bleeding flesh, of death, wounds, disease and rot -- it would only have been as part of the political calculations:** What level of casualties would the American people accept, how do we keep the dead and maimed out of the public eye? It was all about numbers, processes, abstractions. Nothing to disturb the moral imagination, nothing to put them off the hearty meals and tasty snacks discreetly laid before them by the servants.**

snip---
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9260.htm

[Maestro]

47. I'm stunned!

I hope the dems and other less radical repukes go after * for this. Bring them down!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NewJeffCT]

48. The Republicans will write him off..

And say he was not an official member of the administration and that he had quit several months before saying that, hence is also a disgruntled former unofficial advisor.

Not disagreeing that it should be impeachable... just saying what the right will say if this comes up.

[sunnystarr]

49. I'm listening now and can only say WOW ...

Rivers (?) called on Bush to be removed. Jury asking questions now regarding war crimes .. make sure to stream ... I wish I could record this.

[FlyByNight]

50. Since when do geopolitics have anything to do...

with what's morally acceptable? I could cite countless examples of US "moral" involvement but I'm sure Perle already knows (most of) them. Like the typical psychopathic hypocrite, he ignores what doesn't fit the ideology and advocates bombing for everyone else.

This guy isn't human. Fuck this asshole.

:puke:

[hiley]

59. World Tribunal On Iraq: Opening Speech Arundhati Roy

World Tribunal On Iraq: Opening Speech Arundhati Roy

Opening Speech Arundhati Roy On Behalf Of The Jury of Conscience Of The World Tribunal Of Iraq - Istanbul, Turkey.

O6/24/05 "WTI" - - This is the culminating session of the World Tribunal on Iraq. It is of particular significance that it is being held here in Turkey where the United States used Turkish air bases to launch numerous bombing missions to degrade Iraq’s defenses before the March 2003 invasion and has sought and continues to seek political support from the Turkish government, which it regards as an ally. All this was done in the face of enormous popular opposition by the Turkish people. As a spokesperson for the jury of conscience, it would make me uneasy if I did not mention that the government of India is also, like the government of Turkey, positioning itself as a “ally” of the United States in its economic policies and the so-called War on Terror.

The testimonies at the previous sessions of the World Tribunal on Iraq in Brussels and New York have demonstrated that even those of us who have tried to follow the war in Iraq closely are not aware of a fraction of the horrors that have been unleashed in Iraq.

The Jury of Conscience at this tribunal is not here to deliver a simple verdict of guilty or not guilty against the United States and its allies. We are here to examine a vast spectrum of evidence about the motivations and consequences of the U.S. invasion and occupation, evidence that has been deliberately marginalized or suppressed. Every aspect of the war will be examined - its legality, the role of international institutions and major corporations in the occupation, the role of the media, the impact of weapons such as depleted uranium munitions, napalm, and cluster bombs, the use of and legitimation of torture, the ecological impacts of the war, the responsibility of Arab governments, the impact of Iraq’s occupation on Palestine, and the history of U.S. and British military interventions in Iraq. This tribunal is an attempt to correct the record. To document the history of the war not from the point of view of the victors but of the temporarily - and I repeat the word temporarily - vanquished.

Before the testimonies begin, I would like to briefly address as straightforwardly as I can a few questions that have been raised about this tribunal.

The first is that this tribunal is a Kangaroo Court. That it represents only one point of view. That it is a prosecution without a defense. That the verdict is a foregone conclusion.

Now this view seems to suggest a touching concern that in this harsh world, the views of the U.S. government and the so-called Coalition of the Willing headed by President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair have somehow gone unrepresented. That the World Tribunal on Iraq isn’t aware of the arguments in support of the war and is unwilling to consider the point of view of the invaders. If in the era of the multinational corporate media and embedded journalism anybody can seriously hold this view, then we truly do live in the Age of Irony, in an age when satire has become meaningless because real life is more satirical than satire can ever be.

Let me say categorically that this tribunal is the defense. It is an act of resistance in itself. It is a defense mounted against one of the most cowardly wars ever fought in history, a war in which international institutions were used to force a country to disarm and then stood by while it was attacked with a greater array of weapons than has ever been used in the history of war.

Second, this tribunal is not in any way a defense of Saddam Hussein. His crimes against Iraqis, Kurds, Iranians, Kuwaitis, and others cannot be written off in the process of bringing to light Iraq’s more recent and still unfolding tragedy. However, we must not forget that when Saddam Hussein was committing his worst crimes, the U.S. government was supporting him politically and materially. When he was gassing Kurdish people, the U.S. government financed him, armed him, and stood by silently.

Saddam Hussein is being tried as a war criminal even as we speak. But what about those who helped to install him in power, who armed him, who supported him - and who are now setting up a tribunal to try him and absolve themselves completely? And what about other friends of the United States in the region that have suppressed Kurdish people’s and other people’s rights, including the government of Turkey?

There are remarkable people gathered here who in the face of this relentless and brutal aggression and propaganda have doggedly worked to compile a comprehensive spectrum of evidence and information that should serve as a weapon in the hands of those who wish to participate in the resistance against the occupation of Iraq. It should become a weapon in the hands of soldiers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, and elsewhere who do not wish to fight, who do not wish to lay down their lives - or to take the lives of others - for a pack of lies. It should become a weapon in the hands of journalists, writers, poets, singers, teachers, plumbers, taxi drivers, car mechanics, painters, lawyers - anybody who wishes to participate in the resistance.

The evidence collated in this tribunal should, for instance, be used by the International Criminal Court (whose jurisdiction the United States does not recognize) to try as war criminals George Bush, Tony Blair, John Howard, Silvio Berlusconi, and all those government officials, army generals, and corporate CEOs who participated in this war and now profit from it.

The assault on Iraq is an assault on all of us: on our dignity, our intelligence, and our future.

We recognize that the judgment of the World Tribunal on Iraq is not binding in international law. However, our ambitions far surpass that. The World Tribunal on Iraq places its faith in the consciences of millions of people across the world who do not wish to stand by and watch while the people of Iraq are being slaughtered, subjugated, and humiliated.

For further information on the World Tribunal On Iraq, visit http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=84

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9259.htm

[understandinglife]

60. We now know why Bush will not back down on inserting Bolton at the UN.

We know the war is illegal and we even have folk like Perle admitting it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3885693

We know that Bolton is committed to the dissolution of international law and any international institution that would have the authority to hold America accountable:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3941729http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3941729

We know that the illegal aggressive war on Iraq began in the summer of 2002 and that it may not just be Bush and the neoconsters and their complicit Congressional Republicans who should be brought before a truly international tribunal:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3948518

The duty is our, my fellow Americans, to bring these criminals to justice. The 'buck stops' with each individual citizen in a democracy; we either preserve and strengthen our Constitutional Republic or we embrace tyrany. Decision time is now.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."